The Grim Reaper for Delegate

[The Grim Reaper]

The Grim Reaper
Roleplayer, Journalist, Mediator​

Some of you may know me. Some may not.

This is not an acceptable state of affairs.

I am the Grim Reaper, active GCRite since the rise of Osiris. Throughout my career, I have held government positions in Osiris, Lazarus, the South Pacific (in a sense), and the North Pacific.

My contributions are storied. My initiative under Milograd's government to foster GCR relations, unfortunately reversed under successive governments. My initiatives in Osiris as an early, contrarian legislator in the creation of what we know now to be a failed constitution. My radical propositions regarding NS military gameplay, endorsement policies, and real-world politics. Most importantly, however, my staunch support of cultural and writing initiatives.

There are common links - my aims are often on the edge, unpopular, and surprising. They are, however, never secret. I make no attempt to hide the fact that my policies are rarely in line with the mainstream.

One finds it, therefore, appropriate to run for the delegacy in the North Pacific, a region that has bucked the trend and, somehow, survived. With a Security Council that ensures its long-term safety, and an actively reformist Home Affairs, TNP is one of the most resilient regions in the game, either GCR or UCR.

The foundations of the Grim Government will be domestic RP under Cultural Affairs, reforms for transparency under the Minister for the Assembly, and publications under Communications. It is with these three pillars that the two faces of TNP - Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs - will be empowered to act and speak.

What do we want? Ministries!
When do we want them? After the election.​

In the North Pacific, unlike any other region, Ministries are appointed by the Delegate. According to the Legal Code, Section 6.3, we have two compulsory Ministers.

And so, those Ministries shall too be held core by a Grim Government.

Vice Delegate

The Vice Delegate chairs the Upper Cabinet. The Upper Cabinet is the Delegate, Foreign Affairs, Defense, themselves, and the Minister of the Assembly. The Delegate is the Vice-Chair of the Upper Cabinet.

Foreign Affairs

The strict and defining commandment that shall be given to the Foreign Affairs office is GCR Unity. In my government, the Foreign Affairs Minister will be instructed to proactively seek stronger relationships with all GCRs unless they have specific reservations regarding the GCR in question.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs will be requested to have an active Deputy Foreign Minister to chair the Deputy Cabinet. The Deputy Foreign Minister will be charged with preparing propositions by other Ministries for the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Delegate to consider and decline or accept. They will not interface directly with other foreign governments, unless specifically tasked in a transparent and public manner by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Defense

The Ministry of Defense under a Grim Government will be required to be ideologically-agnostic, regarding the discussion of Raiding and Defending. They will be held strictly to this throughout my term.

The Minister of Defense will be strictly subordinate to the Foreign Minister. [The Minister of Foreign Affairs will appoint any Deputy Minister of Defense required.] (Note: Due to requests for clarification, please note that the sentence indicated is an accurate reflection as written.)

Assembly Ministry

A Minister of the Assembly will be appointed as a point of first resort for the Speaker to raise concerns regarding the government. The Minister of the Assembly will act as a full-time 'Devil's Advocate' for the government, and as an active participant in government to support transparency and community involvement at all levels of government decision.

The Minister of the Assembly will be tasked with enforcing Section 6.2 of the Freedom of Information Act, and will be allowed to raise FOI requests for the sole purpose of encouraging internal discussion.

Home Affairs

The Home Ministry will be requested to continue the reforms set down by r3n in any way they can.

The lack of a hard endorsement limit makes TNP a safer place, and the Home Ministry will encourage the residents of TNP to cross-endorse where they are WAs, and encourage them to join the WA where they are not. The WADP is crucial.

The Home Minister will have the secondary goal of having every active citizen in TNP having a 'home ministry' of their own - a ministry to which they are specifically dedicated. In this respect, the Home Minister will be in charge of recruitment for every Ministry, and will also be charged with retaining activity on the RMB and the creation and research of polls for the Delegate to consider, such that residents who do not choose to participate on the forums may still participate in the community.

The Home Minister will also chair the Lower Cabinet, who are the following Ministers - Minister of Cultural Affairs, Minister of Communications, Minister of Education, Minister of WA Affairs, and themselves. The Vice-Chair of the Lower Cabinet is the Minister of Communications.

Minister of Communications

The Minister of Communications will be tasked with the following goals, in descending order of importance.

- To use the Northern Lights as a reflection of TNP's burgeoning community, in roleplay, education, and WA Affairs.
- To maximize the Northern Lights' readership.
- To make the Northern Lights a publication created entirely by TNP citizens at every level (editing, writing, graphics design, formatting, and appended material).

Maximizing the readership of the Northern Lights', by targeting it to a broader audience, may risk its capacity to serve as a publication that can reflect the official stance of the TNP government.

In order to free the Northern Lights to engage in more popular debate and discussion, as well as fiction or dramatized writing, the Minister of Communication will also coordinate the creation of a new publication that will serve solely as a statement of official policy and discussion. The Minister of Communication may delegate this task to a Vice-Minister.

The new, government publication will be subject to censorship by the Minister of the Assembly. The Northern Lights will remain a public asset.

Minister of Cultural Affairs

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs will continue to become a public space, rather than a private one. It will be tasked to act as a partner with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and to that effect, will have a Vice-Minister of Foreign Culture. The Minister himself is projected to focus on domestic role-play.

The Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs will be tasked with aiming to gather interest in running invite-only threads between citizens of TNP and friendly or allied regions on the main NationStates board, in P2TM, II, or NS, depending on topic. This will form the core of this government's contribution to Cultural Affairs.

The current TNP government's focus on promoting two relatively overlapping IC organizations is counter-intuitive and woefully misguided. It has resulted in serious stagnation of member states, with much of the activity in TNP being spearled by either rogue states from those organizations or non-members. Having special boards for IC organizations with restricted membership is counter to the goals of a healthy RP community.

If the two cannot last without special permissions, then they served no purpose in RP. If necessary, they can be replaced ICly with a 'Chehkov's Gun', UN General Assembly style organization, that serves a non-partisan purpose as a setting or character in RP.

The work of Lord Lore and Nierr in TNP's RP has been critical, and the region thanks them.

Minister of WA Affairs

The Minister of WA Affairs will be tasked with promoting activity and discussion regarding the WA by the TNP. They will also prepare articles for the Northern Lights regarding impacts on TNP by WA legislation, as well as promoting TNP-led WA legislation.

Minister of Education

The Ministry of Education will be radically reconsidered. Its pedagogical basis on traditional brick-and-mortar education is not just obsolete in a holistic sense, but entirely inappropriate for NS.

It is bizarre for an online forum to use time-constrained applications for participating in an asynchronous class. The very basis of the Ministry, while positive and helpful, is flawed.

 

[Cormac]

I have a few questions in regard to your platform.

The Vice Delegate chairs the Upper Cabinet. The Upper Cabinet is the Delegate, Foreign Affairs, Defense, themselves, and the Minister of the Assembly. The Delegate is the Vice-Chair of the Upper Cabinet.

Two things here: First, why is the Delegate serving as Vice Chair of their own Cabinet? Second, what if the Vice Delegate doesn't want to serve as Chair of the Upper Cabinet? The Vice Delegate already has a legally prescribed role, is elected rather than appointed by the Delegate, and can't be compelled to serve in any other role.

The strict and defining commandment that shall be given to the Foreign Affairs office is GCR Unity. In my government, the Foreign Affairs Minister will be instructed to proactively seek stronger relationships with all GCRs unless they have specific reservations regarding the GCR in question.

Will this include the New Pacific Order (The Pacific)? What are your thoughts on the current situation in Balder, with democratic government being unilaterally dissolved by the Delegate, at least temporarily?

The Ministry of Defense under a Grim Government will be required to be ideologically-agnostic, regarding the discussion of Raiding and Defending. They will be held strictly to this throughout my term.

What does "ideologically-agnostic" mean? What would the NPA be doing under your Delegacy?

The Minister of WA Affairs will be tasked with promoting activity and discussion regarding the WA by the TNP. They will also prepare articles for the Northern Lights regarding impacts on TNP by WA legislation, as well as promoting TNP-led WA legislation.

What is your position on the World Assembly Legislative League (WALL)? Is it working? How could it be improved? Should it be entirely scrapped?

The Ministry of Education will be radically reconsidered. Its pedagogical basis on traditional brick-and-mortar education is not just obsolete in a holistic sense, but entirely inappropriate for NS.

What will it be doing instead?

Best of luck in your campaign!

 

[The Grim Reaper]

1. Two things here: First, why is the Delegate serving as Vice Chair of their own Cabinet? Second, what if the Vice Delegate doesn't want to serve as Chair of the Upper Cabinet? The Vice Delegate already has a legally prescribed role, is elected rather than appointed by the Delegate, and can't be compelled to serve in any other role.

2. Will this include the New Pacific Order (The Pacific)? What are your thoughts on the current situation in Balder, with democratic government being unilaterally dissolved by the Delegate, at least temporarily?

3. What does "ideologically-agnostic" mean? What would the NPA be doing under your Delegacy?

4. What is your position on the World Assembly Legislative League (WALL)? Is it working? How could it be improved? Should it be entirely scrapped?

5. What will it [Minister of Education] be doing instead?

1. The Delegate serves as the Vice Chair of the Upper Cabinet so that issues with the functions of Upper Cabinet can be raised with the Chair - the Vice Delegate. Because the Vice Delegate is elected, and not appointed by the Delegate, they are as independent as the Delegate, as well as the other elected officials.

If the Vice-Delegate were to decline, I would of course chair the Upper Cabinet myself, but would look to appoint a Minister of the Upper Cabinet to serve as a mediator. I do not foresee the position being particularly onerous, as they would serve mainly in mediation between Upper Cabinet ministers, and I also recognize that appointing the Chair is counter to the point of having a Chair that is not myself. Such an appointment would probably be made based on unofficial advice solicited from the Upper Cabinet and others who wish to have input.

It is, to an extent, a solution looking for a problem, but I believe it is a solution that would be difficult to implement after the fact.

2. The Foreign Minister would be required to provide public justification for the exclusion of the NPO from the GCRs that TNP seeks to improve its relationship from. In the case of the NPO, this would be a formality - other GCRs would be more questionable. As it stands, I would expect the Foreign Minister to continue TNP's staunch opposition to the actions of the NPO in undermining GCR activities. For the sake of transparency, the NPO is an organization of which I have been a member in the past, as a citizen of the Pacific - having left that region for Lazarus under Milograd.

Improving the relationship with Balder would be at the Foreign Minister's discretion. I will not be considering opposition or support for Balder in making an appointment.

3. Ideological-agnosticism, a more descriptive word for 'neutrality' or 'independence'. Both are easily misconstrued, and I take issue with both terms on purely semantic grounds. I prefer using the term 'neutral' in relation to specific conflicts, and 'independence' is a wholly nondescript term in NS R/D, except when describing regions physically controlled through region-hawking. I understand there is political baggage associated with both, but I do not object to their use on these grounds.

The Minister of Defense will be relatively independent in terms of how he or she may conduct their operations. Where possible, I will be recommending the MoD utilize a 'Red/Blue wargame' approach to military gameplay, so that the NPA may be prepared to react to coups in allied regions - in my opinion, the most serious issue that the NPA faces. Understanding the tactics in piling and breaking piles is crucial, and the Warzones would serve as a convenient staging ground for simulated piling if the MoD does not raise alternative targets.

This is a recommendation, not intent to instruct. The MoD will likely raise their own concerns, and the update (or lack of update) ability available will also dictate the direction of the NPA.

4. The WALL is not working, as it simply has not had many results. While the theory expounded upon by Mousebumples was fascinating, it simply has not engendered much interest from the community. The reason for this seems to simply be very few students and slow activity.

A replacement to the WALL would have to be less content-focused and more skill-developmental. In other words, a team of people writing together and learning the content that was included in the original WALL over the course of preparing work for the WA.

The Minister for WA Affairs will have to seriously consider how to find a critical mass of people, and what that critical mass is, to keep such a program going. They may find it appropriate to replace the WALL with a group of experienced 'mentors' working in a free-form environment, or with a program that can foster a regional identity on the main on-site WA forums. I will personally be requesting the Minister consider both of these options in tandem, but I am of course open to the WALL being reformed if they have solutions.

5. The Minister of Education will encourage discussion on real-life events, lecture-style posting, and NS history - of which Nassania has a fascinating but woefully underutilized body of work. It will, simply, be streamlined into general discussion and the Northern Lights. In essence, the Minister of Education will become the Minister of OOC Affairs in all but name.

The Minister and I will be working on creating a more informal standard for scheduled IRC lecturing, if interest is shown, but this will be peripheral to the work of moving initiatives like the North Pacific University into the North Pacifican mainstream.

 

[RPI]

A Minister of the Assembly will be appointed as a point of first resort for the Speaker to raise concerns regarding the government. The Minister of the Assembly will act as a full-time 'Devil's Advocate' for the government, and as an active participant in government to support transparency and community involvement at all levels of government decision.

I don't entirely understand what the Assembly Ministry would do. Could you please go a little more in depth?

I think you have some good ideas, TGR. Best of luck to you!

 

[The Grim Reaper]

A Minister of the Assembly will be appointed as a point of first resort for the Speaker to raise concerns regarding the government. The Minister of the Assembly will act as a full-time 'Devil's Advocate' for the government, and as an active participant in government to support transparency and community involvement at all levels of government decision.

I don't entirely understand what the Assembly Ministry would do. Could you please go a little more in depth?

I think you have some good ideas, TGR. Best of luck to you!

Effectively, the Ministry of the Assembly is the person who raises potential concerns with government procedure and policy apparent in the TNP community, when these procedures and policy are not immediately apparent.

For instance, if the Foreign Affairs Minister happens to have an idea for a cultural event with another region that could be unpalatable to the region, it would be the Minister of the Assembly's role to point out the issues with the policy during the formulation.

If a Ministry feels that it requires more privacy to conduct certain procedures, it would be the Assembly Minister's role to discuss the matter as a member of government on behalf of the public. In the same way, if a Minister has concerns about a Ministry overstepping its boundaries in regards to opacity and secrecy, the Assembly Minister is specifically tasked with the smooth functioning of holding them to task.

Their role as an interface with the Speaker is such that if the Speaker has questions about activity, or other issues the Assembly has to raise about the government, the Minister of the Assembly can act in their interest as someone who is explicitly aligned with the government. The Assembly, of course, always have the regular legal recourses and the Delegate's term length to raise concerns. The Minister of the Assembly is simply an addition.

The Minister of the Assembly will also be working closely with the Minister of Communications to produce the untitled government publication regarding official policy and communications, in their portfolio of government transparency.



To summarize, simply, where a closer, transparent relationship between the government and the public is desirable, the Minister of the Assembly should be the first to desire it, and the first to make it happen. Their tools in this regard are FOI requests, their cabinet position, and the untitled government publication.

 

[Tomb]

Good luck, TGR.

 

[Cormac]

Do you believe the NPAF should be required to disclose operations to the Regional Assembly while they are ongoing, provided reasonable exceptions are made for classification of sensitive operations, or do you believe disclosure after an operation is sufficient?

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I believe that the burden of proof should be on the Minister of Defense to show that a given operation needs to be classified. The default position of this government will be that classified operations are the exception, and not the norm.

Written proof will be required for classified operations prior to the operation, and will be publicized immediately following the declassification of the operation.

Considering this proof will be the task of the Minister of the Assembly and the Delegate.

 

[Cormac]

Thank you for your answer.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I am making the following election promise:

I will support amendments to Chapter 6 that introduce the concept of honorary citizenship for TNP forum members who have held citizenship in the past and do not have a nation on NationStates. Honorary citizenship would refer solely to the special circumstances of eligibility - someone who gains honorary citizenship would become a citizen of TNP.

I support this with the specific case of Madjack in mind, whose work in Culture has been crucial to making that area as reliably active and colourful as it is. His inability to hold citizenship in the North Pacific, due to his lack of a resident nation, is a serious impediment in the effectiveness of what is a capable and symbiotic relationship between the Cultural Executive Staff and the volunteer Cartography team.

With the necessary Chapter 6 Amendment, Madjack would be a valuable resource serving in a Ministerial or Deputy Ministerial Cultural position, and it is a thorn in my side to be unable to plan for a government in which he can hold responsibilities above and beyond his existing, admittedly comprehensive, cartography volunteer position.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Remember -

ONLY The Grim Reaper has plans for a Roleplay Community that can stand as an active, vibrant part of the North Pacific government, with a strong, official support-structure to a grassroots, self-governed community.

ONLY The Grim Reaper has plans for a government that makes real, active steps to transparency at all levels of government, through the Minister for the Assembly.

ONLY The Grim Reaper has plans for an NPAF that can transparently contribute to, rather than opaquely detract from, TNP's world-class Foreign Affairs assets.

 

[Pauline Bonaparte]

I just have one question at the moment.

The strict and defining commandment that shall be given to the Foreign Affairs office is GCR Unity. In my government, the Foreign Affairs Minister will be instructed to proactively seek stronger relationships with all GCRs unless they have specific reservations regarding the GCR in question.

I am an unabashed userite. Why should the North Pacific make GCR Unity the "strict and defining commandment" of its foreign policy? Would you rather spend resources on improving relations with GCRs that you disagree with rather than UCRs that share the same visions and beliefs as the North Pacific? If so, why? What makes those regions special, besides their population count and lack of founder?

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Would you rather spend resources on improving relations with GCRs that you disagree with rather than UCRs that share the same visions and beliefs as the North Pacific? If so, why? What makes those regions special, besides their population count and lack of founder?

GCRs - particularly Feeders, but also Sinkers - are catchers for new players and, often, cosmopolitan players or players who are between regions. I want to emphasize our GCR relationships for two reasons.

Firstly, becoming more prominent in the GCR community is the best way for TNP to direct its foreign policy in a way that encourages the most effective internal recruitment, and participation in the greater NS community. Every GPer has, at some point, been in one of the five feeders, and will likely pass through TRR and the three sinkers during their time in NS.

This is not true for UCRs - people seek out the UCRs after being exposed to different viewpoints in NS, and understanding the subgroups that form the greater community.

Secondly, and building off of that, is because I believe TNP, like all GCRs, has a part to play in building up the NS community. To give where we take, so to speak. The best way for TNP, as a GCR, to contribute to that community, is to participate in the GCR world. We need to be obvious to new players - our Security Council an example of what can be achieved through dedication to a region, our RP forums an example of what can be achieved through dedication to communal story building.

We CAN have relationships with UCRs. It is quite clear that you recognize my priority for GCR Unity. I am not, and you are not suggesting I am, proposing a meaningless crusade against Userite regions. However, it is up to those UCRs to seek us out - they are numerous, and I do not expect my Foreign Affairs ministry to undertake the complicated task of simply looking for every UCR that happens to think the same way we do. And, if TNP builds on its own community, and on the greater GCR community, we will see UCRs that have natural, mutually beneficial links with TNP and the other GCRs.


Our Foreign Affairs Office is not the ministry that should be looking to improve relations with UCRs. That is a task which, ideally, would fall to the Home Affairs Office, by recognizing the fact that GCR players naturally move to UCRs - permanently or temporarily, exclusively or partially - and that they still have a part to play with the GCR community.

We cannot focus on the ideological foundations of any given UCR as a reason to relate to them. Ideology changes, and our Foreign Affairs Ministry has too many concerns to be tasked solely with figuring out which UCR is part of which ideological bloc as a priority. We have to have a material basis for relating with them - GCRs have what is one of the very, very few material resources NS can offer.

We have a strong Foreign Affairs Ministry in TNP. I don't for a second suggest that they won't be allowed to exercise freedom to investigate potential UCR relationships in TNP - but it will not be an area my Delegacy will direct at the cost of our relationship with the members of other GCRs, whether that relationship is friendly, or, in the case of regions such as The Pacific, rhetorically hostile.

 

[Gladio]

What would your Ideal cabinet look like: Made up of TNPers and All NS players ?

What would your worst cabinet look like: Made up of TNPers and All NS players ?

And what would you do If one of your cabinet members Is Inactive ?

 

[SillyString]

If you could join one non-GCR region at its prime, what region would you join and why?

What are your favorite and least favorite things about TNP?

Under what circumstances would you ever take the delegacy of TNP when it was not legally yours to take? Under what circumstances as delegate would you eject and/or ban someone from the region when you knew doing so was against TNP law? "Never" is not an option to either of these; feel free to be creative with your answers.

 

[Blue Wolf II]

If elected, who would you like the Minister of Foreign Affairs to appoint as Minister of Defense?

 

[The Grim Reaper]

If you could join one non-GCR region at its prime, what region would you join and why?

What are your favorite and least favorite things about TNP?

Under what circumstances would you ever take the delegacy of TNP when it was not legally yours to take? Under what circumstances as delegate would you eject and/or ban someone from the region when you knew doing so was against TNP law? "Never" is not an option to either of these; feel free to be creative with your answers.

((For those reading before I edit, I am answering the above posts out of order.))

Asta 1) Azhukali, an old RP region that I was a member of in its last two weeks. Almost all of the RPers I would later interact with came from Azhukali, and it's a region I'm more familiar with, as opposed to, say, Haven, or Gholgoth (which I never applied to on principle).

From the Gameplay sphere, I've mainly tended towards GCRs in my career because they do tend to attract trouble, interesting people, and are more dynamic. For instance, I considered join a couple of the UK Imperialist flavour region, but it's not a culture I'm particularly savvy with, not being English and all. Of all the Gameplay UCRs, the one I know best that goes back to before I became active would probably be Equilism - I tend to like shooting the breeze with many of the Equilists, so to speak, and it's still the only UCR IRC channel I'm in (excluding LRavenclaw's Alexandria, because it's younger than my GP career is).

Asta 2) Favorite thing is it has a more relaxed atmosphere than most of the other GCRs, in my opinion. Osiris and Balder are both rather politically loaded, Lazarus is much the same at the moment, TWP is a fairly introverted, hierarchical club, TEP and TSP have fairly institutionalized communities (The TEP Police Force/Military, and TSP's government cultural activities, although my understanding of both may be somewhat outdated - I'm thinking respectively of the time Xoriet and Kris were at peak activity). There are a lot of criticisms leveled by various people about 'cliques' and clubs that may or may not influence TNP government in some abstract way, and I totally understand the sentiment of "Better is not good enough", but I do think TNP does a much better job of involving and engaging new players and old players in 'roughly' the same mode of communication compared to other GCRs.

Least favourite thing about TNP is hard to answer, because I am naturally a cynic and I recently was advised that being a cynic is not good for writing formal research, so I've been working very hard today not to be a cynic.

Firstly, I suppose I'll talk about something I understand, and then move on to something I don't. I really dislike TNP's RP organizations - the Democratic Union and the NPTO. They seem like very IC frameworks to solve an OOC problem - creating an in-character organization and setting to create what is at the moment a fairly abstract OOC sense of TNP identity. The NPTO in particular is rather a limp fish, in my personal opinion. The Democratic Union could have more application if it were to embrace the fact that it is not an all-inclusive organization. That would, however, necessitate it being divorced from OOC forum structure and becoming an IC institution, and I don't propose that that is the only solution. As it is, TNP RP is being promoted way too heavily within the frame of what are fairly non-congruent organizations - one which I think we would be better off without, and one which could be an interesting project for RPers to work on in the short term.

Secondly, a world that is often discussed and explored. TNP legislation. It is fascinating to me - like a giant game of Nomic, but a bit less free-form. But, there are such odd and random omissions. It seems very much like it was designed to exist on the back of not just the British legal system, but a set of constitutional law and customary law. The RON option on ballots was striking to me, and got me interested in TNP legislation again. Looking at how TNP defines citizenship is a mess - it's split between various sections that make the entire thing difficult to amend. It's a constitution that went out of its way to enshrine certain things in a way that would make it more trouble than its worth to amend.

That's not a problem - the only people who will consider amending it in 'most' cases are people who like amending it, but it's something I dislike.

Asta 3) I would take the delegacy of TNP illegally in effectively any situation that impacts negatively on real world relationships in some way - I am a firm believer in the primacy of RL > NS pretty much to the extreme conclusion. I would do the same for ejection/bans, but I don't see ejection and banning being as effectively in such an extreme case. To be honest, I would be unlikely to eject or ban people except to keep the RMB clean, or enforce the endo cap. I just don't find it particularly effective in achieving pretty much any goals I can see as being actually worth achieving, except for restricting citizenship or SC membership artificially. If you take the delegacy of TNP illegally, then it is 'possible' that would be a conduit to forcibly remove someone from a negative situation, but there's pretty much no way a ban and ejection would help to do the same when you can just make a new nation.

Besides couping TRR, that's the exception where ejections could help serve a goal, but to be quite frank I don't recall when TRR updates.

And frankly, out of all the options, couping TRR is the only fun one, because if someone's real world life depends on me taking the TNP delegacy by force, God help us.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

If elected, who would you like the Minister of Foreign Affairs to appoint as Minister of Defense?

The Minister of Defense is an appointment I reserve for myself. I would request that Eluvatar serve in the position. Should he refuse, I would invite tenders from the NPAF and the Assembly at large - particularly those who have shown interest in the NPAF from an administrative perspective, rather than an ideological one, following Flemingovia's example.

The Deputy Minister of Defense is the position I proposed allowing the MoFA to select, and that is a decision the MoFA would make to facilitate the relationship between the two ministries.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

What would your Ideal cabinet look like: Made up of TNPers and All NS players ?

What would your worst cabinet look like: Made up of TNPers and All NS players ?

And what would you do If one of your cabinet members Is Inactive ?

Ideal:

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Lord Ravenclaw. I have worked with him on many occasions and find him personally affable. He is a capable diplomat in every sense of the word, and it is a regret that our stances on foreign policy do not align. As an alternative, I would suggest Kazmr. His career in NS showed great potential as a foreign affairs official, and his other participation in Lazarus unfortunately stunted that career through his storied involvement in the LLA and later as a Delegate. I firmly believe that, beyond the obvious example of winning Lazarus back, his skills as a Delegate and an LLA official would have been better used in Foreign Affairs. It is perhaps questionable whether our foreign policies align, as a true alternative to LR, but I would choose him solely out of interest to see what he could have done with the relationships he developed working with LLA's interregional operations and the Lazarene foreign corps.

Minister of the Assembly: RPI. It is a new portfolio, and hence it is critical to have a new player. RPI, particularly, has Speaker experience, and is therefore familiar with the ever-popular sentiments for government transparency and accountability that would be criticial to the Minister of the Assembly. However, many may find it more prudent to have a more experienced player. Because RPI is a relatively non-controversial offering for a non-controversial portfolio, I may take the leap and suggest Cormac as a good alternative fit for the Minister of the Assembly. He pulls no punches, and, more importantly, has a strong grasp of rhetoric used by most corners in NS. He is the perfect example of the seedy Bollywood lawyer who could become a no-nonsense judge (That is, strangely enough, a Bollywood cliche). Presumably, he would be more than happy to serve the role of officially sanctioned Devil's Advocate, but Cormac's reputation in the community is - undeservedly, in my opinion - unfortunately not really up to the task of being the trustworthy flange-bracket between the TNP Assembly and the government.

Minister of Defense: Eluvatar. Capable, experienced, a conservative choice. As far as defender-leaning candidates go, he's one of the strongest fits for TNP, and not just because he's already here. In terms of raider-leaning candidates, Venico is a stand-out for me - Koth, whilst a capable GP commander and participant, always struck me as rather too abrasive for a Minister.

Minister of Culture: Lord Lore. One of the best TNP has to offer in the cultural sphere, particularly in tandem with St George, who is quite honestly my ideal candidate for the position. The two, as far as I know, work exceptionally well together, and have produced an incredible amount of activity for the region. Outside those two, Esternial (From P2TM and NSG) is a capable RPer and OP who I would have liked to seen in a position like this - P2TM RPers, to my mind, fit better in TNP RP compared to II/NS, with mainly character-based RP even in the ostensibly nation-based RP threads, and a fairly strong sense of canon.

WA Affairs: I dislike National Sovereignty as a WA ideology - but Mousebumples is one of my favourite WA authors, and possibly the one who could best lead a teaching or mentorship program like WALL was intended to be, and of course, has contributed in that position. I've never been particularly fond of Mallorea and Riva as a WA author, to be quite frank. I can't pin down if it's a personal preference thing, or if it's because I do genuinely see something better about Mousebumples' writing, but I believe quite strongly she is one of the best mentors in the WA. Gruenberg is also quite a capable lecturer, but I find him to be a lot more subjective when discussing topics. As far as TNP goes, I don't really have much awareness of the base we're working off for WA Affairs. Were Abacathea still active, I think he would be a strong candidate, and could even given Mousebumples a run as my favourite ideal candidate. Sanc is also an extremely capable candidate, but is even more pressed for time (as far as I know).

Communications: Me. Communications is my strong point, frankly, because I'm quite fond of the sound of my own keyboard (it's mechanical!) More seriously, I wouldn't mind seeing Bootsie in the position. Bootsie has seen, unfortunately, the back of a number of very, very strong candidates in his own preferred fields - Culture, and the Speakership. I think Communications may be an interesting place to see Bootsie try his hand at applying what he's learnt from serving as a Speaker, as an RPer, as someone who has been quite diligent in learning about TNP, under a Delegate whose strong point is in the realm of Communication (you'd never pick it from this post) and Culture, and whose focus is on relating back to the Assembly. As an ideal candidate, Todd McCloud was an extremely strong writer - however, he had a tendency to overshadow pretty much all competition. He has a very eclectic form of writing, and that made it hard for him to be anything more (or less) than the front-page you make it a point to read off someone else's newspaper on the train. He linked IC and OOC in interesting, flexible, creative manners, and that meant his writing was a great inspiration and a poor education. He was the Margaret Atwood of NS journalism - fascinating, riveting, and an established face in NS journalism, but one that would have worked had there been better frameworks for NS journalism and communication.

Education: Nasania. He has...contrarian views on political ideology, particularly how it relates to NS, but he's a driven person and a natural analyst. I don't agree with him, but he's very good at initiating discussion, and he's already shown great dedication to the area of education. As an ideal, is tough. Because I now have to figure out what I want Education to really, really be. I have to set a goal. Go with me on this journey. What is education achieving? Improving understanding of NS ideas or IRL ideas? If we're going with NS ideas, then we'd be looking at someone who came from a very Unibot-influence school of thought, either in agreement or as a critical theorist - Unibot is one of the most prominent writers on NS ideology, but I don't think he can be particularly objective. I would perhaps suggest...I want to steer away from GCRs on this one, because GCRs tend to be in bed with certain social theory, surprisingly. If we were to go more statistically, more historically, someone diligent like Nassania is great, but for someone who has a more traditional view of NS ideology (a more 'insider' view of ideology), you'd want an active Cosmopolitan who is R/D-agnostic. TSP had a fairly strong member along those lines, who was, I believe, in either Culture or Home Affairs, and was strongly linked to their World Fair, but I can't for the life of me remember who it was.

If we were going with an IRL 'free school' of sorts, where people share thoughts and semi-academic discussion, I would feel obliged to suggest someone with a fairly strong academic background - Tsunamy, for instance, or Flemingovia, but one worries that they would bring in an institutionalized view of what Education should be. (They, presumably, may disagree with me on this assertion ) So you may lean towards a strong moderator or mediator, like Astarial, or Severisen, purely because they would work very well to administer the program, and where you may lack on certain view points, you can fill in with Deputies or non-hierarchical participation.

Home Affairs: Andrew is doing well, and I see no reason to have an ideal cabinet that excludes him. While I am more familiar with r3n, and his work, his is a standard for those to come and not an ideal for me. My ideal cabinet is one in which Andrew finds a program format that allows him to exceed the standard r3n has set. Home Affairs is not a ministry that needs to be holding to ideals - of all the Ministries, it is the one that needs to be leading the charge on reform and renewal. The better it is at fostering engagement and recruitment, and the more it reforms, the easier it is to keep the rest of TNP up to date. The ideal Minister of Home Affairs is anyone who looks in the mirror every morning and sees someone warmly unfamiliar. Milograd was decent at this sort of thing, but he tended to embody those characteristics in a negative way. Codger, were he committed to electoral politics rather than political theory, would be a great example of someone who can do very interesting things by looking at things with a bit of a head-tilt, so to speak. Can't help but keep an eye on him when he decides to write something up.

Worst:

MoFA: Cormac. Overall, JAL. Cormac, because while I am a huge fan of Julian Assange, I frankly wouldn't hire him as my office secretary, because no-one would trust him enough to let him read anything. JAL, because while I am a huge fan of political theory, I frankly wouldn't hire Karl Marx as my lawyer, because I wouldn't trust him not to use a court case as a book-selling opportunity, or the stage for a violent revolution.

MoD: From TNP, Gradea. Independent NPAF? Really? Overall, Unibot. No comment.

WA Affairs: There are a lot of really, really bad choices. Namely, anyone who doesn't really use the WA. If you look at IntFeds and NatSovs, both will generally contribute SOMETHING, either in resolutions or in repeals. It's not really an area where you can irrevocably screw up, to be honest, unless you go out of your way to spread misinformation and get people banned or warned.

So, JAL.

Communications: From TNP, Paul Wall Libertarian, who I understand is no longer active. Cool guy, pretty friendly, but God, he was not from a very traditional school of debate. Overall, again, a field where the worst choice is someone who has strong views but tends towards assuming they are more self-explanatory than they are. I can also see people trying to strongarm their staff into suppressing or promoting certain ideological positions, but Communications is not a Ministry in which the staff would have no recourse - not legally, but certainly socially, particularly in NS where most readers do tend to be very critical of credibility and authorship. Any of the older players might be able to produce a certain narrative for new Communications staff to understand as gospel truth - Romanoffia, SillyString, Flem, Gross, r3n, etc., but to be frank, they don't tend to overlap with people who would actually /bother/ to produce that narrative. Where they have certain issues - Flem with certain NPAF policies, Roman with certain social institutions, for instance, they tend to be issues that they reserve, for better or worse, for discussion privately or through the TNP legal institutions.

Education: Me, or anyone who rambles on discussions and runs out of steam towards the end. Nobody likes someone who just lectures you on a topic until you get bored and leave - TNP's education ministry needs to be about engagement, because we frankly don't have enough people or koalifications to justify the lecture-style of education. If you're euphoric about sharing something you know or understand, that's GREAT, and you are not just welcome, but cordially invited to do so. It's just that if you're not engaging, then I think it would be a good idea to aim to give you support from someone who knows how to engage people with a discussion, to facilitate discussion, to throw in that one post which asks a question about people's experiences, to link that one pop culture or news event, to mention to someone "hey, such and such had a really good thread about this topic - you should read it, and maybe reply if it helped you." Another field where the problem is not 'not doing damage', but 'doing better than the alternatives', and that's hard for a Ministry still trying to figure out what the alternatives would be.

Home Affairs: A ten-foot pole. It's more than possible to screw up Home Affairs, but you'd have to do worse than nothing - it has a fairly strong procedural set of activities. We only really need someone who is active to keep it ticking over - the worst case scenario, then, is someone who is active enough to go through the motions, but refuses to question the motions. Grub comes to mind. Grosseschaunzer tends, too, to be fairly conservative, perhaps to a fault. I can't imagine him referring newbies to how it was back in his day.


QUESTION 3:

I will expect all my Ministries where inactivity would be a major concern - everything barring Communications, Culture, WAA, and Education - to have a Deputy structure that can adopt the functions of office. This would, of course, be only a stop-gap measure, to allow me to consider the issue of appointing new Ministers from the Deputies. Specifically, the two legally mandated cabinet positions (MoFA and MoD), will be expected to have a written-in-stone recommendation for order of succession should the Minister become inactive, and I will expect both of these Ministries to be prepared to function in a continuous manner through my Delegacy. Ideally, these two ministries in specific would be capable of operating at full capacity through an inactive Minister, and would have Deputies confident enough in their understanding of their Ministers' global strategy to act independently. The other Ministries would be more strictly subordinated to Ministers, and by extension the Delegacy.

 

[Andrew]

Home Affairs: Andrew is doing well, and I see no reason to have an ideal cabinet that excludes him. While I am more familiar with r3n, and his work, his is a standard for those to come and not an ideal for me. My ideal cabinet is one in which Andrew finds a program format that allows him to exceed the standard r3n has set. Home Affairs is not a ministry that needs to be holding to ideals - of all the Ministries, it is the one that needs to be leading the charge on reform and renewal. The better it is at fostering engagement and recruitment, and the more it reforms, the easier it is to keep the rest of TNP up to date. The ideal Minister of Home Affairs is anyone who looks in the mirror every morning and sees someone warmly unfamiliar. Milograd was decent at this sort of thing, but he tended to embody those characteristics in a negative way. Codger, were he committed to electoral politics rather than political theory, would be a great example of someone who can do very interesting things by looking at things with a bit of a head-tilt, so to speak. Can't help but keep an eye on him when he decides to write something up.

Thanks for that I'll think about what you said.